Gizmodo Won’t Be Charged in Leaked iPhone 4 Case

It has been more than a year since Gizmodo rocked the tech world by leaking Apple’s iPhone 4 ahead of its launch at WWDC 2010. If you recall, Gizmodo paid $5000 in cash for the prototype that an Apple engineer left on a bar stool in Redwood City and soon after, Apple dropped the hammer down in the form of a police raid and a long investigation from the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office.

It has been more than a year, but the investigation has finally come to an end and Gizmodo has announced that it’s not going to be charged in the case of the missing iPhone 4 prototype.

In a statement from its parent company, Gawker Media, the San Mateo District Attorney’s office has found that there was no crime committed by Gizmodo in regards to its reporting the iPhone 4 prototype:

We are pleased that the District Attorney of San Mateo County, Steven Wagstaffe, has decided, upon review of all of the evidence, that no crime was committed by the Gizmodo team in relation to its reporting on the iPhone 4 prototype last year. While we have always believed that we were acting fully within the law, it has inevitably been stressful for the editor concerned, Jason Chen, and we are glad that we can finally put this matter behind us.

Not everyone was a winner in this though. The guy who sold the iPhone 4 to Gizmodo? Yeah, he is facing misdemenor chargers and is going to be arraigned on August 25th according to a statement from the District Attorney:

The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has filed misdemeanor charges against two individuals for the misappropriation of an iPhone 4 prototype that was lost by an Apple employee and subsequently recovered in a Redwood City establishment by the defendants on March 25, 2010. Brian Hogan, 22, of Redwood City was charged withone count of misappropriation of lost property, and Sage Wallower, 28, of Emeryville, was charged with misappropriation of lost property, and possession of stolen property. Their arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 9:00 in Redwood City. After a consideration of all of the evidence, it was determined that no charges would be filed against employees of Gizmodo.

We look forward to a response from Apple but something tells me that we probably won’t get one.